One of the methods for feeding electronic components is called a stick supply. Such a conventional method and its apparatus is explained referring to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 2, the common electronic component feeding apparatus of such a type comprises a holder 3 for holding a group of sticks 1, each stick storing a row of electronic components, a tilted chute 4 having a separating means 6 at the front end thereof for separating the forefront electronic component 2 from another, and a swinging means 7 for holding and moving the forefront electronic component 2 to a horizontal position 35.
The separating means 6 may, for example, comprise a pivotal block 41 having a separating pin 42 and being arranged movable about a pivot 40 located at the front end of the tilted chute 4, and a shutter 14 which opens and closes, as shown in FIG. 4. In action, the electronic components 2 joined to one another are downwardly released from the stick 1 and guided by the tilted chute 4 to slide down to the front end of the chute 4 due to its own weight. The separating means 6 rotates the pivotal block 41 to cause the separating pin 42 to be inserted between the forefront and the succeeding electronic components 2 to separate them. The shutter 14 at the front end of the tilted chute 4 is then opened to transfer only the separated electronic component 2 to the swinging means 7.
It happens sometimes, however, that the separating pin 42 fails to be inserted between the two adjacent electronic components 2 depending on configuration of the interface between the components. Thus, another example of the separating means 6 which has been employed includes a stopper 45 which holds the second electronic component 2 from above while permitting the first one to run through the opened shutter 14 at the front end of the tilted chute 4 to the swinging means 7, as shown in FIG. 5.
However, the above-described arrangement has such a drawback as described below. When each electronic component 2 has a burr at its joining ends produced in the forming process, the forefront electronic component is prevented from being separated due to its burr 12 being held by a burr 13 of the following electronic component 2 which is pressed and stopped by the stopper 45 from above.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic component feeding apparatus being capable of separating electronic components from one another which are joined to each other and stored in sticks, and supplying the electronic components one by one regardless of the configuration at joining ends of the electronic components as well as the presence of burrs at the joining ends developed during a molding process of the electronic components.